Preface
The Process of Constitutional Amendment and Constitutional Change
A Survey of Constitutional Amendments and Their Impact on Change
A Selective Look at Supreme Court Decisions and Their Impact on Change
A Selective Look at the Impact of the Political Branches in Effecting Change
Examining the Terminology and Theory of Constitutional Change
Laws, Orders, Judicial Decisions, and Amendments: A Comparative Analysis
Appendix: Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
Selected Bibliography
Index

The processes of constitutional change in America are particularly difficult to understand because of the constant interaction between the constitutional document of 1787 and the wider set of understandings and practices surrounding that document. This work is the first to examine systematically the relationship between changes initiated by constitutional amendment and changes initiated by judicial interpretations or actions of the two elected branches of government. By examining and comparing all three mechanisms of constitutional revision, Vile offers a more complex and dynamic analysis of this important constitutional issue than can be found elsewhere in the literature.

JOHN R. VILE (Ph.D., UVA) is Dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of A Constellation of Great Men: Exploring the Character Sketches of Dr. Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (2019), The Declaration of Independence: America's First Founding Document in U.S. History and Culture (2019), The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of America's Founding (2016), The Wisest Council in the World: Restoring the Character Sketches by William Pierce of Georgia of the Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (2015), and numerous books on the U.S. Constitution.